It was perhaps the mid of the year, as the keyboard taps echoed in the glassed rooms, there was a sudden silence when a swarm of people brushed passed through the other side of the glass. It was a rare sight to watch, truly and before anyone knew what was happening, it had already happened. A new project had brought about a few new people to the other room in the office and the interesting part was all of them being girls. Well, that was the rare sight to watch, especially on the floor that they stayed because something like this never really happened. Though there were a couple under the same manager, they ended up marrying and moving away with their significant others. So, however new the sight was, it felt refreshing because like in the movies, everything slowed down for a while. Maybe it was the eyes, or perhaps the aura or maybe, maybe it was the height, that turned a few too many heads and brought a little too many jaws down to the floor.

Siri sat at her system gracefully while garnering a few eyes which she chose to ignore. It was nothing new to her. She knew quite well how to handle such eyeballs – by not give a damn. While a few were trying to be all cool, a few were just as perplexed as the ones who had seen for the first time. But the wannabe cool dudes had to mend their broken hearts after realizing a new-found earth shattering news. While a few argued that it won’t be possible, while a few were pretty sure that it can not be possible. “How can she be married? It’s just not possible!”; apparently the truth shook the ground below their feet.

______

It was a cold afternoon. The new year brought about a lot many new dreams and aspirations, and like many things that made it to the “To-Do this year” list were again added to the new years list of To-Do’s along with the last to previous years and the year before that and the year before that, turning the list into a full fledged novel, which one might find on Amazon and no, it isn’t available in Kindle version. In that breezy afternoon, the wind felt a little cold, the breeze hitting the face softly like a feather. But however pleasant it felt, they didn’t want this breeze. It was hauntingly disturbing their game. Silent curses were passed along under their breath. But all seemed fine and the little torture felt bearable maybe perhaps because of the aura around her. It was as if her presence was rubbing off in the air and perhaps that was the pleasant part of the cold breeze. How much ever tired they were, they didn’t want to look tired. Because impressions were supposed to be made; and to be made to last forever.

Well, however pleasant it felt beyond the little hardship being faced by the so called wind, the floor didn’t favor them either. Due to some genius architect, the construction of a 9 storey building left a lot of empty spaces in places which can’t be used for anything else, quite literally. Despite this architectural brilliance, the company is a true believer of reusing and making the best of the resources available. One such creative use of bad architecture resulted in a badminton court. But then again, the budget constraints and lack of reusuable stuff resulted in a very poor design of the court, which left over 70 percent of the court open and made it easy for the wind to play around anytime, which never failed to played and the worst part was that it wasn’t even paying tax. Though most(all) of the budget gets used in all other (un)necessary things that are very essential, like a fountain in the middle of the garden, or to rebuild the walkway that was already better, or building a birdcage and then a rabbit cage and then bringing ducks, because why not? Everything seemed much more important than providing a safe zone for the employees to work. The wind was a constant factor, the floor underneath has always been slippery and if it rains, it is a disaster. But still, it was what they came to slowly adjust.

As soon as the people who had occupied the court finished their game, Akhil jumped at the first opportunity he got after a little wait. Akhil and Neil were on one side of the net while someone else had taken their positions on the other side since they had been waiting for their turn. While Aryan and Siri were sitting idly for the game to start and get over to get a chance to play another round. Meanwhile, Akhil dazzled on the floor that slipped like an well-oiled tiled floor waving his weapon, taking a stance and prepared himself completely for the battle of sorts. There were shouts, cries, curses and what not. Aryan meanwhile had asked Siri to join him to practice in the small place beside the court. He was standing on the sidelines and looked in awe about these new found fierce cries that was coming out of Akhil. Neil was engrossed in the game and he was completely unaware of the people around him, let alone Akhil’s shouts. Concentration was the key there, which was apparently Neil’s strategy. Akhil on the other hand was on a next level, nothing short of an professional athlete. And adding all this, his fightgame seemed fierce, or perhaps it was just a pretense(?). The corner of his eyes occasionally searched for those dark black eyes whom he had set out to impress with all of his athletic charm, which actually looked like an over enthusiastic display of charm.

However the battle was short spanned which game to an abrupt halt, just when it was about to finish. Well, those consistent fierce battle cries got suddenly replaced with a slow cracking noise. For Akhil it all happened in slow motion. And then, there was silence for a moment and the only sound that was heard was that of the slow cold breeze that blew. There he was was, that same fierce guy with legs apart, sitting on the slippery tiled floor and as he stood, he knew that something was wrong the very moment and all he could do but only limp. The so called battle was no more. One more point and the game would have ended, but then there was just sound of the cold breeze and by the looks of it, Akhil, the fierce warrior that he had tried to be to be that day, was holding on to his pain and was hoping that it wasn’t as serious as he was imagining it to be. The whole group left from there then itself to aid to his aching pain. Aryan was waiting in line for the past two games to get a chance to play, but after this there was no more games.

They all settled up in the canteen while Neil got the pain relief spray to ease the pain, which seemed to have worked. But by then the swelling was huge, so much so that he couldn’t wear the shoe. And gradually the pain also started increasing and it slowly started kicking in . It was the start of a few months long hardship.

(To be Continued …)

How Akhil dealt with the new injury and how Likitha reacted to it? How did it impact the others, if it at all? And what happened there after… check out for new updates.

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